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Togo Football Team Attacked In Angola

According to the latest report from the Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF) last friday night, gunmen shot at buses carrying Togo’s footbal team to the African Cup of Nations in Angola. Rebels of FLEC terrorist attack on Togo delegation left one dead and nine wounded. Shell-shocked, many Togolese players suggested that their national delegation should cancel their participation in the African Cup of Nations. But organizers insited the tournament would go ahead.

Among the injured, there were two players while the players bus driver was killed right-away as bullets were sprayed at the Togo delegation vehicles as the convoy crossed from Congo-Brazzaville into the trouble Angolan region of Cabinda. To escape from bullets, many dived under their seats as rebels machine-gunned the team’s bus, said Dossevi. On the phone, Togo’s player Thomas Dossevi told the french RMC radio that they have been ”fired on like dogs”. He added that goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale and defender Serge Akakpo were seriously injured. Dossevi further stated that Akakpo took a bullet in the back and the goalkeeper (Kodjovi Obilale) was hit in the kidneys.

The armed wing of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC), embroiled in a decades-long separatist struggle, claimed responsibility in a communique cited by Portugal’s Lusa news agency.
FLEC signed a peace deal with Angola’s government in 2006, but in recent months has claimed series of attacks on various targets including the military and foreign oil companies in the province.
Willy Dogbatse, the head of Togo delegation, told the media that the other wounded included members of the sporting, administrative and medical staff accompanying the team to the tournament that kicks off Sunday.